Camilo Torres Restrepo

Camilo Torres Restrepo (3 February 1929 – 15 February 1966) was a Colombian Catholic communist revolutionary, an ordained priest, and a member of the National Liberation Army (ELN). During his life, he advocated for liberation theology by trying to reconcile revolutionary socialism and Roman Catholicism. His social activism and willingness to work with Marxists troubled some.

As part of the academic staff of the National University of Colombia, he was a co-founder of the Sociology Faculty together with Orlando Fals Borda, as well as some intellectuals such as Eduardo Umaña Luna, María Cristina Salazar, Virginia Gutiérrez de Pineda, Carlos Escalante, Darío Botero and Tomás Ducay, in 1960.

His involvement in several student and political movements during the time won him a large following as well as many detractors, especially from the Colombian government and the church itself. Due to the growing pressure to back down from his radical politics, Camilo Torres was persecuted and went into hiding (leaving his job as an academic) by joining the guerrillas in Colombia.

He served as a low-ranking member of the ELN to whom he also provided spiritual assistance and inspiration from a Catholic Christian communist point of view. He was killed in his first combat engagement when the ELN ambushed a Colombian Military patrol. After his death, Camilo Torres was made an official martyr of the ELN.

He is perhaps best known for the quote: "If Jesus were alive today, He would be a guerrillero." Camilo Torres, along with Gustavo Gutiérrez, Helder Camara and Des Wilson, is one of the most important figures in the history of liberation theology. He was a life-long friend of fellow socialist Luis Villar Borda and Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez. In the Dominican Republic in 1970, a revolutionary group that included Catholic clergy members and university students was founded under the name CORECATO, which stood for Comando Revolucionario Camilo Torres (Revolutionary Command Camilo Torres). In New York City, San Romero of the Americas Church-UCC has founded the Camilo Torres Project in 2009. This project works for social justice and peace for the people of the Washington Heights community.

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